Hyderabad: Three girls, who were living in an orphanage, went missing while going back home from their school in Kamatipura. The girls, aged between eight and nine, had left school on Tuesday without telling their teachers, but did not reach home. The same girls had gone missing earlier also, but were traced by the police in Karnataka. The police has launched a search for the kids. Child rights activists alleged that the Ashritha orphanage did not provide adequate security to the kids.

The girls, M. Manisha, 8, M. Sirisha, and Nikitha had run away from their previous home in Musheerabad. They went to Bidar, from where Hyderabad police found them. “After they were brought to Hyderabad, they were shifted from their earlier home to Ashritha Home at Kamatipura for safety,” said Kamatipura inspector S. Sudarshan.

Police said the mother of Manisha and Sirisha had approached the orphanage asking them to let off the girl. “Their mother begs at Falaknuma railway station. Since there is a chance that the kids will also be pushed into begging, the home and the local NGO, who admitted the girls, did not let the girls go,” said the inspector. Now the mother is missing from the railway station. Police is investigating if she took away the children.

Police officials said chances of abduction are less as the girls have a history of running away. “However, we have booked a kidnap case since they are minors. All police stations have been alerted and search teams are at bus stations and railway stations,” said the inspector. Police said the government primary school the girls were attending and the orphanage is just 100 meters away. “They left school without having lunch. Teachers noticed their absence only after lunch. We are checking CCTV footage to find where they went from school,” said a probe official. The local NGO’s officials said the kids were given better care at the new home than at the earlier one at Musheerabad.